Jeremy’s Miracle

by Jude Lincicome

Editor’s Note: Jude Lincicome, mother of Jeremy, found
the NFB during her son’s preschool years. She enthusiastically embraced the
positive philosophy of the NFB and did her best to implement it as she went
about the daily tasks of raising and educating her son. Like many other
parents, Jude believes that religious training is an important part of her
child’s education. But Biblical texts that deal with blindness can raise
troublesome questions even for adults, not to mention a young boy who is
struggling to understand who he is, and why he is the way he is. Jude, who has
a flair for the dramatic, describes below how she helped shape an important
breakthrough moment for her son:

My Dear
Father, it’s me again. Today in Sunday School the teacher read
one of the stories about how Jesus healed the blind. Dear Lord, Jeremy has been
troubled since then, and I know he is not sure what it should mean to him. I
need your help to know what to say to my son. He started to ask me a question a
few minutes ago, and I know that what I say to him will have a profound effect
on the way he will see himself for the rest of his life. I made an excuse, and
here I am.

Jeremy is nine years old now,
Lord. He is a good boy, and I love him very much. Remember when I found him at
the hospital? They told me he was blind and profoundly retarded. They were
right about the blindness. I think the doctors didn’t want me to adopt him. He
was so tiny then, about four pounds, I think. I remember how he used to
scream—scream so loudly that I could feel his pain in my head, my heart, and in
my gut, all at the same time. I think that was the first time I talked to you
about him.

Remember the rocking chair in
the nursery, Lord? I held him nestled in right close to my heart. His little body
was so stiff. It was so tightly clenched into a ball that when it was time to
change his diaper, it was hard to pull his legs down. As I remember, we both
cried a lot that first day. I knew you had given him to me for there was an
unmistakable bond, there in that rocking chair, between that tiny child and me.

You were there with me the
first time I saw him, and you have been with me since. You were with me as we
put him through the kinesthetic exercises that reprogrammed his brain that had
been damaged from severe hemorrhages. You were there teaching me when to be
patient and when to press hard for action or answers, especially when it
concerned his education and his needs for blindness skills. All praise to you,
Jeremy is a bright third-grader in regular elementary school. His cerebral
palsy, which made him, as a baby, crawl in circles around his withered arm, is
no more than a nuisance now. He walks independently with a white cane and runs
and plays with the other kids in his class—just like everyone else. Lord, you
should hear him read his Braille, and he does his math in Braille, too. His
teachers tell me that he is the best in his math group.

We have come a long way, you
and I, but we are coming to the hard stuff now, Lord, and that’s why I’m
sitting here in the bathroom talking to you.You see, I told Jeremy I would answer his question as soon as I come out
of here. I don’t have much time. This is it, Father. I wish I could curl up in
your lap, for I am scared. I’m going to put all my trust in you, Father,
because I have no clue what I should tell my son to let him know that he is as
special to you, Lord, as he is special to me. I want him to truly understand
that the poet’s song I hold so dear is worth remembering. “There is another way
of looking, but it’s up to you to see. If you saw through my eyes, what would
you see?”Lord, you have given me an
understanding of the power to be had by looking at all points of view. Hold my
hand tightly Lord, it’s time to go.

“Mom, I’m waiting!”

“I’m coming Jeremy, now what
did you want to ask?”

“Mom, do you remember in
Sunday School, we were talking about when Jesus was tired and went across the
lake to an island to rest, but the people followed him with the crippled and
the blind people for Jesus to heal?And
He did?!”

I feel your hand, Lord, tell
me how to make him strong within himself and with your love.

“My precious Jeremy, in Jesus’
time, the blind were beggars. They begged for food, and slept where they could
find shelter. There were no white canes for them to use, or orientation and
mobility instructors to teach them how to get around by themselves. They had to
be led around everywhere they went or stumble around alone. They did not have
Braille so they could not read or do math. They really were blind.”

“The Bible said that the blind
could see after Jesus healed them. There are many ways to see. You see with
your ears and your skin. You see with your mind’s eye and with your heart.
There are also many ways of healing. There is the kind when your knee gets
better after you skin it falling down on the sidewalk. And do you remember when
your sister Karen died? We cried a lot then, but now we can smile when we think
about her. That’s a different kind of healing.”

“You, my love, have a white
cane to walk with, and when you try really hard, you don’t need anyone to guide
you. You are learning how to find your way around, even when you are in a
strange, new place. You can read Braille, and you are in the same school and
grade with all the other boys and girls in our neighborhood. When you grow up,
you will be able to have a good job and be able to take care of yourself and
your family. Truth is, you are a pretty amazing young man, and I am very proud
of you.”

As I talked, the sad worried
look on his face turned to curious, then thoughtful, then became soft with a
slowly spreading smile that became an absolute glowing beaming grin. His eyes
twinkled and sparkled with a revelation that would change forever the way he
would see himself.